le rouge et le noir ne s'epouse-t-il pas?

Am I going insane or do old French novels like Madame Bovary and The Red and the Black mask the village names by calling them ____ville? Actually maybe the red and the black takes place in besancon so that one’s wrong. An effective technique either way. That’s what I was thinking today after I hit and killed a bird driving home from my site visit: that I could anonomyze (probably not a word) the blog by saying I struck the thing between ____dorp and ____dorp. And here I am.


I'm listening to:
Liz Phair- whitechocolatespaceegg
because the other thing I was doing while driving was sing 'go on ahead' which, thanks to my friend, google, I now know is about having a child. Slowly acquiring life skills like listening. And, evidently, leaving dead things in my wake.

i'm on a blog roll. literally a hoagie.

I'm dying of happiness that someone googled 'pretentious anachronism' and found my blog. I may rename this thing. Hells bells, I may rename myself. (I think that's heatstroke setting in after a few hours of chart review in this hotel room / possible passive brothel that I can't believe I stayed in once, much less consciously re-booked myself for. Maybe the heatstroke started a long time ago. I've totally lost myself.)


I'm listening to:
Nick Drake- Bryter Layter

celebrating the celebration of the semicolon

I love love this article. I love every quote in it. I love its aggressive comma usage in the face of the semicolon. Also, has a sentence ever encapsulated my writing style more perfectly:

the semicolon has been largely jettisoned as a pretentious anachronism.

I'm listening to:
Nina Simone- In Concert/I Put A Spell On You
apparently putting the pret back in pretentious

burning questions on the unhappy triad

So I know you've all been dying to hear the latest on my knee:

I naturally hyperextend my legs and since I hurt my knee I've kept my right leg straight whenever possible, exacerbating this tendency. This was an awesome solution until I started feeling uncomfortable standing for long periods at some point this summer. I chalked it up to too much time on the wards, but the situation has gotten steadily more aggravating. I've come up with the hypothesis that I've hyperextended my right leg to the point that it is now longer than my left leg (does it freak anyone else out that I'm going to be a doctor?). In a grossly unscientific study last week involving a tape measure and some awesome positioning on my air mattress, I measured 1 cm longer from greater trochanter to malleolus on my right leg, but I may well be full of shit. Either way, I bought myself shoe lifts today, which I'm going to put in this left shoe starting Monday for my uncontrolled trial.

Thank you for your time.


I'm listening to:
Pimsleur- Speak and Read Essential Spanish. Leccion vingtyocho?

Correction and our Sincere Apology

I haven't opened an AmeriCares email since shortly after I gave money for the tsunami. But I saw the above title, and I love a good public relations disaster as much as the next rubber-necking American, so I opened it:

February 14, 2008

Earlier this week, AmeriCares sent its February issue of eNews with an error we would like to correct. In the article “Tenth Airlift Scheduled for Darfur” the dollar value of our aid was inaccurately reported. The article stated: “Since 2004, AmeriCares has sent nine airlifts to North, South and West Darfur, delivering 152 tons of medicines, medical supplies and other critically needed relief worth more than $2 billion.” That amount should be $2.2 million. We apologize for the error.

To clarify further, our tenth airlift, which is currently being prepared, is valued at more than $2.7 million, which will bring the total value of our humanitarian aid to Darfur to $4.9 million.

It is our intent, and our responsibility to you, to be honest, accurate and transparent in all that we do. We hope this clarification underscores our commitment to accountability and to you, our most valued supporters.

Thank you for your continued belief in the mission and vision of AmeriCares. You empower us to make a difference in people’s lives, wherever they are, whenever they need it.

Sincerely,

Curt Welling
President & CEO
AmeriCares

So now I am left to wonder: would I have noticed that it said 2 billion? In this Pepfar world, would I have been impressed? Am I literate? Would I have cared?


I'm listening to:
Songs beginning with the word 'If' in alphabetical order. Currently between If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding) and If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You.

Phantom Power

Hey, Awa, why are you sitting in the dark tonight?

It’s not dark, it’s ambient.

Seriously, did you forget to pay your powerbill?

Nope. Went down to the bank Monday to have the funds deposited.

So what then? Because while your skin looks great by the light of your computer, I feel like you were supposed to integrate 2 sets of lab data tonight or something?

Right, so there’s this step where I have to fax the deposit slip in to the super. And then he charges my electricity. Otherwise, it's just 300 bucks into the wind.

And today’s Wednesday right?

Right-o. Mood lighting it is then,

I ain't sayin' she's a golddigger

I'm not in this for the money. I don't care about it anymore. I just want to get reimbursed for expenses from November and December so that everytime I buy anything, and for hours afterward, I don't have to hear Antonio Banderas taunting me "And the money kept rolling out (in all directions)."


I'm listening to:
Super Furry Animals- Out Spaced
Probably my least favorite, but am newly obsessed with the song Guacamole. Life would be better if I only had my Evita soundtrack.

I'm confused

why does Lupe Fiasco get to be famous?


I'm listening to:
Lupe Fiasco- Food and Liquor.
pretty worthless. we are very much scraping the bottom of the barrel here, musically. I need new. All old makes me ill.

In which I chime in on the writers strikes

Not that I really watch TV, but I take some solace in being abroad during the writer's strike and the knowledge that I'm somehow missing less pop culture than I would during a normal year. I'll be sad if the Oscars happen this year; for now there's this promise that maybe no one will get to watch the Joan and Melissa Rivers pre-show, and I won't be left out at all.


I'm listening to:
Spoon- Kill the Moonlight

p.s. At what point can I ask my guesthouse owners to change my sheets? (the answer is clearly: Never. Continue to hate them passive-aggressively until you leave and pay them an enormous bill that your company will take months to reimburse you for.) I've been (literally) sitting on stains since night 3 and it's night 7 of 13 now and they show no signs of ever being washed. Yesterday I came home to my towel spread out on the balcony drying. I know we're in Africa and in what is apparently the 22nd driest country in the World but even I, Ms. Not-Holly-Homemaker, change my sheets when they're dirty. Guh

Burned Again

I still can’t come to terms with this world where a lentil and feta salad could come doused in mayonnaise dressing. Guh. I feel bloated, but at least it's no longer from the vague but real concern that I was possibly carrying the second coming of Jesus.


I'm listening to:
Echo & the Bunnymen- Porcupine